The Trial and Error Process of Life and Love
by The Genesis Riddle
Summary: Life is a series of trial and errors, there's no manual and no way to know what to do when it hits you in the face. But people fight, fall in love, and find happiness through a long series of trial of errors that is life and love. HongIce, Turgypt, Prucan, Spamano, FRUK, RusAme, GiriPan, GerIta, DenNor, SuFin, AusSwiss, LietPol, implied RomBul
1. Almost, But Not Quite

The Trail and Error Process of Life and Love

Chapter 1: Trial Number One: Almost But Not Quite

**Started** – Jan. 15, 13

**Finished** – March 13, 13

**Warnings**: Thoughts of Suicide, Heartbreak, teenagers

**Characterizations: **Fem!Iceland Fem!Egypt Fem!Canada Fem!Romano, Fem!England Fem!America Fem!Japan Fem!Italy, Fem!Norway Fem!Finland Fem!Switzerland Fem!Poland Fem!Bulgaria

**Rating**: T

**Summary**: Life is a series of trial and errors, there's no manual and no way to know what to do when it hits you in the face. But people fight, fall in love, and find happiness through a long series of trial of errors that is life and love. HongIce, Turgypt, Prucan, Spamano, FRUK, RusAme, GiriPan, GerIta, DenNor, SuFin, AusSwiss, LietPol, implied RomBul

Trial Number One: Almost But Not Quite

**Leon's House 10:30 PM**

Leon and Mira sat on the floor of Leon's living room quietly playing a video game. To an outsider they appeared completely absorbed in the game, to each other however, it was blatantly obvious that something was on the other's mind, not the video game.

To most people, they didn't appear to be a couple. They never acted like it at either school or at home; no one was really sure of what they were, not even they themselves were sure. Exactly four weeks ago in a scene much like this one Leon had leaned over and kissed Mira square on the mouth before pulling back and returning to the game. Mira had stared at him in shock for a few moments before she too returned her attention to the video game. Neither spoke about it but it weighed heavily on both their minds.

Ever since Leon had defended Mira –who had just moved to the neighborhood from Iceland with her father after her mother had died- from some older kids who were picking on her accent the two had been inseparable. Leon had become Mira's knight in shining armor, the one person who understood her even better than her father (and eventually her equally taciturn step-sister, who would come into the picture a few years later), and the one who stuck by her no matter what. When Leon had kissed her she had been beginning to think that her crush (which had really become much more than that) was doomed to remain unrequited but that uncertainty had almost been better than this 'almost-but-not-quite' hope she had now.

Leon had harbored deep feelings for the small girl ever since he first saw her; she was without a doubt the most beautiful girl he had ever set eyes on. He had acted on impulse that night, desperately trying to tell her his feelings before it was too late –as he'd known that someone was planning on asking her out the next day. Since then, he'd made no move to confirm or deny their relationship to the rest of the school, preferring to simply scare of any potential dates; the fear of her writing off the kiss as a mistake kept him quiet. Mira's character running his off the road snapped his thoughts back to reality.

"No fair, Mira," He said monotonously but his fingers pressing all the more furiously on the controller revealed his frustration to his opponent who simply smirked.

"Pay attention," She responded simply. They continued to play in silence for the next few minutes before Leon broke it once again.

"Is Svanna going to Prom?" Mira glanced at him in confusion.

"No."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?" Mira could feel her heart rate picking up, as much out of fear as hope.

"I've got a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Do you…want to go get something to eat tomorrow?" Mira felt her heart plummet to her stomach.

"Sure. Where do you want to go?" Her eyes once again glued to the screen as she attempted to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill.

"Italian, maybe." Leon wanted to smack himself for losing courage like that. The original question had been 'Do you want to go to the Prom with me?' but he had changed it at the last minute in a moment of panic.

"Fine. Noon?" Mira asked and Leon nodded and they stayed silent for the rest of the game.

**Hetalia Academy 2****nd**** Period**

"-morrow would be good. I mean, it's not like she can say no, right? Hey Shula are you listening to me?" Shula glanced up at Sadik who was staring at her intently, waiting for her thoughts on his plan to ask her best friend Mira to Prom.

"Of course I am," she replied, though truthfully listening to her the person she loved go on about his affection for her best friend had been too painful to listen too so she had tuned out all but the end. Sadik rolled his eyes and smirked, easily seeing through her lie.

"Sure you were. Anyway-" as Sadik started another tirade Shula placed her chin in her palm and gazed out the window. It was a beautiful day. She caught bits and pieces of what Sadik was talking about but for the most part ignored him. She caught sight of Mira and Svanna with Berwald and his girlfriend Tina. Shula sighed. Half the school wasn't sure whether Mira and Leon were going out or not, but Mira had often confided in Shula about her feelings for the boy from Hong Kong and honestly Shula approved. Leon was a good guy, his only real fault was that he kept Mira in limbo for so long about their relationship but the Egyptian girl had a feeling that would all be resolved soon. Sadik, however, was certain that Mira liked him. Shula sighed again.

She and Sadik had known each other for years and the two of them along with Herakles Karpusi, a Greek student Sadik shared a love hate relationship with, had gotten into all sorts of mischief when they were younger, much to the chagrin of their mothers who were also close friends.

The three had been inseparable for most of their early years, until both boys discovered girls. For several years the two boys had avoided Shula like the plague, as it was 'un-cool' to be friends with a girl. And because Shula was the glue that had kept the two of them together the two boys drifted apart as well. When Herakles' mother had died during their first year of middle school Sadik and Shula had shown up to comfort their friend. After that the three were as thick as thieves again- even if neither of the boys would admit it. It wasn't till their second year of middle school that Shula had realized she was in love with Sadik.

That year Shula's mother had been struck by a sudden heart attack and was pronounced dead on the scene. Shula had been numb for weeks after the funeral nothing could bring her out of her shell and even the ever-persistent Herakles had given up on her, but Sadik never did. One night during a thunderstorm he had come to her room and enveloped her in a tight hug. The embrace combined with the fear induced by the thunder and lightening outside caused Shula to break down in Sadik's arms. He held her and let her sob until it felt as though her tears had run out. As he held her and whispered comforting endearments in both Turkish and Arabic she then realized she could not envision her life without Sadik in it.

"-La. Shula~ Hey Shula!" Sadik's voice returned her to the present, "Bell's just rung. You're gonna be late!"

"Oh, thank you," She replied and began to gather her things. As she made to leave Sadik called out

"Put in a good words for me with Mira would ya!" Shula turned around and gave a Sadik a rare smile. As she turned around and began to leave she wondered if she was imagining Sadik's eyes following her out of the room.

**Hetalia Academy Science Wing**

"Of course Canada's going to the finals!" Madeline insisted as she and Gilbert walked toward their third period class, "How could you think anything else?!" Gilbert laughed and held up his hand in a gesture of surrender.

"All I said was that Sweden might give them a challenge this year. Geez, you know for such a quiet girl you sure get riled up about hockey." Maddie blushed and turned her head away from Gilbert's laughter.

"Sh-Shut up!" She said and punched him lightly on the arm. He laughed again and swung an arm around her shoulders making Maddie blush even harder. It really didn't help the massive crush she had on Gilbert that he was a very tactile person; hugs, arms around the shoulder, hair ruffling were all things he did with his brother and his best friends Antonio and Francis and he treated her exactly the same way he treated them. Gilbert hadn't had any interest in a relationship for years according to Francis, who was her cousin, and once Gilbert made up his mind there was no changing it. "Even if he did," thought Maddie, "It'd be for some beautiful, talented, smart, out-going girl, not a shy, meek little wallflower like me."

Madeline had always had self-esteem issues, mostly stemming from the fact few people aside from her family could her and when they did they often mistook her for Emily, her older more out-going sister who had a talent for rubbing people the wrong way with her brutal honesty. Gilbert was the first person who could see her, to see Madeline Williams not a ghost or a replica of her sister.

On the first day of classes teachers and students alike had ignored her. She had been on the verge of tears after she had accidentally been shoved into a wall for what seemed like the hundredth time when a hand had landed on her shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" a deep gravelly voice had asked.

Gilbert had seen the petite blonde girl with glasses several times through out the day being pushed into walls, lockers, and just generally being completely over looked. Near the end of the day he noticed her being shoved rather roughly into the corner and her eyes well up. He headed over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Maddie had looked up to see Gilbert looking right at her with concern in his deep red eyes. The shock from someone actually seeing her combined with stress from the last few hours hit her hard and she passed out right there in the hall. Gilbert, of course, had panicked and taken her to the nurse. When she woke up a half hour later she'd explained her plight to a frantic Gilbert and that no, she had not passed out because she was scared of him.

Even though the Nurse forgot about ending to her neither teenager noticed as they talked for hours and hours about everything from Hockey to fluffy animals and soon it seemed as if they'd known each other their whole lives. A loud shout from the end of the hall startled Maddie out of her revere.

"Maddie!" Emily cried as she bounded up to her sister; completely ignoring Gilbert much to his chagrin, the self-proclaimed 'Most Awesome Student in School' didn't take well to people ignoring his awesomeness, "There you are! Ali and I have been looking everywhere for you! Come one let's go or we'll be late! Did I mention we looked for everywhere! Ali said you would be in the last place we look I a guess she was right! She right a lot." Alice Kirkland, the Williams-Jones Sisters' neighbor and Emily's best friend, was very strict about being punctual and was probably the reason Emily didn't skip out on school entirely.

"I was coming Em. No need to shout," Maddie said in a useless attempt to quiet her sister's over the top ranting.

"Well then let's gooooo!" Grabbing her sister's arm Emily began to race down the hall toward their next class. As Madeline was dragged away she caught sight of Gilbert making a 'call me' motion causing the Canadian girl to laugh. Before Emily dragged her around the corner she caught sight of Gilbert's own smile as he watched her leave.

**Hetalia Academy 3****rd**** Period **

It was a well-known fact in Hetalia Academy that should the Antonio/Lovina couple ever break up the world would implode. Having been through about every disaster known to couples save for cheating since the beginning of their relationship freshman year it seemed nothing could tear these two apart. When Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, the most oblivious person in school, had crashed head long into feisty, ambitious Lovina Vargas the whole school knew sparks would fly. And though their beginning wasn't particularly smooth with Lovina cursing and hitting Antonio every time he got too close –which was anything less than across the room- and Antonio utterly oblivious to his and Lovina's feelings they had eventually admitted their feelings and had been the school's eternal and favorite couple ever since.

"Hey, hey Lovi~" Antonio whispered as he poked his girlfriend in the arm in an attempt to get her to look at him even though they were supposed to be in class, "Lovi~, Lovi~"

"Shut up, Tomato Bastard!" Lovi whispered loudly and turned her attention back to the teacher. Antonio crossed his arms and pouted but left her alone.

Lovina watched her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye for a moment before returning to her work. Lately it seemed Antonio had been getting distant. Sure, he still pestered her and gave he affectionate kisses and hugs but they seemed half hearted, like he wasn't sure what he was doing. Was he growing tired of her? Had another sweeter, gentler, more affectionate girl caught his eye? The mere thought of losing Antonio scared her because, even though she never showed it, she loved Antonio a lot she could easily see a future with him in it and one without him terrified her.

As these thought spiraled around in her head Antonio was gazing at his girlfriend, not particularly paying attention to the teacher; which turned out to be a poor decision as the teacher picked that moment to call on the poor Spanish boy to answer her question.

"Mr. Carriedo?" The teacher called, amusement lacing her voice, "Mr. Carriedo!" Antonio snapped his head forward and stared at her with wide, confused eyes.

"Huh?" The teacher sighed and shook her head.

"Please pay attention Mr. Carriedo." Antonio had the decency to look sheepish,

"Sorry Ma'am."

"Let's see if Miss. Vargas can answer my question. Miss Vargas?" Lovina stood and answered the question quickly before sitting down and continuing to daydream.

Antonio sighed –completely forgetting about the teacher's advice to pay attention. Lovi was smart, beautiful, and talented, even if she didn't always see it. She had a wealthy family and excellent prospects for her future. What did he have? A low paying job that barely managed to pay the bills, a tiny apartment in the worse part of town, and a few meager skills that weren't really marketable. He wanted to be someone Lovi could be proud of, someone she could depend on even after school. He had no money and no prospects, no way to provide for, hell, he could barely provide for himself! Antonio sighed. Was he really the best guy for Lovi?

**Hetalia Academy Lunch Hour**

Francis laughed as Gilbert attempted to pour his soda onto Antonio's head –most likely for insinuating Gilbert and his lovely cousin Madeline Williams were in a relationship- as the Spanish boy narrowly dodged the beverage and managed to fall of his seat in the process.

"Keep laughing Francis! You're next!" Antonio declared, "Gilbert has his sweet Canadian so it's only a matter of time before Alice confesses her undying- Ack!" Antonio was cut short as a Gilbert finally managed to douse him with soda and pulled him into a headlock, effectively cutting off all further speech.

"Hahaha!" Cackled Gilbert as he continued to torment their Spanish friend. Francis smiled at his best friends antics but his thoughts quickly turned introspective when he remember Antonio's comment about Alice Kirkland, his childhood enemy, who coincidentally had been his crush almost as long. Unfortunately, Alice's hatred of him has never been a secret and even though he had attempted to bury his feelings for many years they were still as strong as ever, much to his chagrin.

When they'd first met they hadn't exactly…hit off. He had seen a pretty-ish girl sitting in a corner, nose buried in a book and out of the goodness of his heart had gone over and invited her over to play with Antonio, Gilbert, and himself. He might not have used the best language but he was inexperience back then! How was he supposed to know that she would get offended if he called her a loner with ugly hair, granted it now seemed like common sense but to a seven year old boy who believed girls had cooties it seemed a perfectly logical thing to say. Alice, of course, had smacked him across the face before proceeding to jump on top of him and beat him to a bloody pulp with the book she'd been reading; needless to say not a great start. They constantly butted heads for the next few years on everything from their nationality to what type of flower was the best to whose cooking was better (not much of an argument in his opinion). However, end of fourth grade Alice had come dressed up in a dress, face clean, and hair brushed and to this day Francis swears she looked like an angel. Of course to his 10 year old brain he did immediately recognize he was attracted to fiery Alice Kirkland however it hit full force in middle school when he learned what dating was and realized the only girl he really wanted to date was Alice. Knowing she loathed him with her entire being he never spoke to her of these feelings and dated dozens of other girls in an attempt to bury what he assumed was a silly unrequited crush. He glanced up and watched Alice assault her food as she tried to Emily's prattling and sighed.

Alice stabbed at her macaroni as she listened to Emily talk about her sister and 'that damned Prussian who harassed my sister!' and how much she loathed Ivan Braginski. Alice rolled her eyes and glanced over at Francis who was in the middle of attempting to (once again) keep Gilbert from killing Antonio, who, being the eternal idiot, had probably made a comment about Gilbert's love life similar to the one that had got him doused in soda a few minutes ago. Alice sighed. Those idiots would always be idiots.

As she turned back to her food a few long strands of blonde hair fell in her face; she shoved them back into place, annoyed. She'd cut it off once in sixth grade and hated it; since she couldn't pull it back it only fell into her face more -the fact that Francis had laughed at her when he'd seen it had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Yes, Alice valued Francis' opinion, more than she'd ever care to admit. Alice had liked Francis almost as long as she'd known him, but knowing she was far to plain for him and the small fact he hated her caused the petite British girl to never say a word. Alice knew she was plain and boring. She did have blonde hair, but it was more the color of straw than Emily's bright, sunny gold. Her green eyes were more akin to the color of frogs than Elizaveta's sparkly, grass green eyes. She had curves but they weren't as obvious under her layers of clothes like the extremely well endowed Yekaterina Braginski. Her skin was too pale from spending time indoors and her eyebrows had been the cause of torment for as long as she could remember. She already knew these things; she didn't need Francis, the other members of the Bad Touch Trio, and most of the boys in the school to remind her. Why would Francis, proclaimed one of the sexiest guys in school who could get any girl he wanted, go after or even like her?

The feeling of someone watching her caused the British girl to look up. Francis had given up trying to play peacemaker and was now watching her intently. She glared at him to which he only winked and gave her a smirk. She frowned and glared harder. Maybe if he dropped dead from her glares she wouldn't have to put with all this.

**Hetalia Academy Lunch Hour **

Emily caught the exchange between Alice and Francis and shook her head. Those two would never learn. One of them would have to give eventually but until then…

"Hey Ali! Are you listening to me?!" Alice glanced up and her and sighed.

"Of course, Emily. And will you stop calling me Ali already?" Emily grinned.

"Nope." Alice rolled her eyes and continued to eat. Emily chuckled but stopped when she felt a familiar gaze on her back. She counted to three and whirled around.

Ivan quickly looked away before Emily could catch him watching her, though from the way she was glaring at him over the tops of her glasses she probably already knew. Ivan gave her a sweet (or at least what he hoped was sweet) smile to which she huffed and returned to her food.

It had been like this since the beginning of freshman year. He had literally crashed into Emily as she'd barreled down the stairs and square into the large Russian boy. At first he'd been impressed, not many people had the force to be able to knock him over like that, but he'd been less than pleased when the girl –who had run into him! – had the gall to tell him to watch where he was going. He'd smiled at her, purposefully being creepy, but to his surprise she hadn't back down, only flinched before returning to telling him off. He'd been so shocked he'd dumbly held out a hand and introduced himself as Ivan Braginski, pronounced Eevan. She'd stared warily at his hand for a second before doing a 180-degree turn with her personality and splitting into a large grin, grabbing his hand and shaking with a firm grip he did not believe a woman could possess, and introducing herself as Emily F. Jones, heroine extraordinaire.

They'd formed a friendly acquaintanceship, helping each other find classes, saying hello in the halls for the first semester of freshmen year. Second semester, however, had found the two partnered for a project, to which they had butted head on just about everything, from what they would present to the color of the design, nothing was above being argued over. They were stubborn, hotheaded, fiercely protective, and had much more in common then they were willing to admit. They would argue almost everyday, usually ending in Emily stalking off and Ivan taking out his unresolved anger on the terrified Toris, Eduard, and Ravis.

This had been the pattern until the middle of last year. Emily and Madeline's (whom Ivan got allow with quite well to her sister's chagrin) family had finally split up, their mother moving back to Canada and would've taken the girls with her had they not been allowed to choose which parent they would live with. Emily had run-away, gotten lost, and somehow ended up in Ivan's neighborhood. He'd found her bawling on the side of the street and had taken her back to his house. After a cup of tea and soothing words from Yekaterina, she'd calmed down enough to explain what had happened to him (Kat had left the room to call Maddie to let her know where her sister was). He'd rather awkwardly pulled her into a hug and she'd burst into tears all over again.

The next day she'd gone home but not before thanking the Braginski siblings for helping her, not acknowledging what had transpired between her and Ivan, leaving him very confused. Since then they'd not argued besides the occasional petty squabble, which had given him plenty of time to notice she wasn't completely insufferable.

The first thing he'd noticed was that she was pretty; with sky blue eyes, sunny blonde hair, and a figure most girls would kill it hadn't particularly difficult to _notice_ Emily. Her personality had been harder. Having always looked for flaws he could torment her on it had at first appeared she no redeeming qualities. Until she'd stuck up for her nearly invisible sister from being bullied by upperclassmen. He'd seen a side of her she'd kept hidden from him, a calm, caring, loving older sister.

Not unlike himself Kat had pointed out to which he'd scoffed. But despite his objections he'd slowly began to see the good things about Emily F. Jones and before he'd known what had happened he'd fallen hard for the loud American girl. Unfortunately, Emily still hated his guts, leaving his options with what to do with his feelings rather limited so he'd chosen to keep them to himself, his older sister being the only exception. The bell rang, startling him out his thoughts. He glanced at his half eaten lunch and stood to throw the remains in the trash. Unfortunately, Emily had the same idea. They ended up at the trashcan at the same time, shared a heated glared before turning away and walking off in opposite direction. Yes indeed, Ivan was an excellent actor.

**Hetalia Academy Rooftop **

If someone wished to find Heracles Karpusi then one would inevitably end up on the roof, which was infamous for being the Greek student's favorite haunts when ditching class. He was currently fast asleep near one of the walls, with a few scattered cats curled up around him. This was exactly how Sakura Honda found him a few minutes later. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

"Heracles-_kun_, please wake up. It is almost time for class." Heracles didn't stir. The tiny Japanese girl sighed again and sat down next the Greek boy.

Sakura may be close friends with Feliciana and Ludwig but Heracles was undeniably her best friend. She had been hopelessly lost after transferring to Hetalia Academy from Tokyo, speaking only barely passable English and no one was taking pity on the poor new girl.

Heracles had noticed her from across the hall and, recognizing a few of the words he'd heard her saying, decided to go over and help the tiny, dark haired, dark eyed girl out. To say they had bonded instantly would be an understatement. Being one of the few in school who also spoke Japanese Heracles took it upon himself to ensure the girl knew her way around, and much to Sakura's embarrassment had no problem with physical contact, something that caused the extremely modest and traditional Japanese girl no small amount of embarrassment early on in their friendship. Their shared love of cats, quiet personalities and interest in each other's culture allowed the two to become very close very quickly.

Sakura glanced at Heracles who was still fast asleep and she knew from experience it was near impossible to wake Heracles when he didn't want to be woken. Sakura sighed again before standing.

"I'm going to class. I'll be back afterwards." She disappeared down the stairs.

As soon as the sound of her steps disappeared Heracles cracked open an eye and after confirming the Japanese girl was gone opened both eyes and sighed before shaking his unruly brown hair out of his eyes.

Sakura was undoubtedly his closest friend and up until recently he'd been content with that. He'd been perfectly happy just keeping the tiny girl at his side but when is longtime rival Sadik had set his sights on the girl his more-than-platonic feelings for Sakura Honda had been brought to the surface. Sure, Sakura had rejected Sadik and the Turkish boy had moved on to the Icelandic girl Mira (Which was stupid in Heracles' opinion because Mira was obviously in love with Leon, and if Sadik bothered to look right under his nose he would notice Shula's crush on him) but that didn't mean she liked someone else. Sakura was dedicated and focused on getting into a good school; she could just not want to be in a relationship right now. And even if that wasn't the case if she didn't feel the same way and Heracles acted on his feelings he could destroy the easy friendship the two of them shared. He didn't think his heart would be able to take a rejection from the only girl he'd ever loved; so, for now, just being near her, talking, walking, and laughing with her was enough.

Heracles sighed and closed his eyes once again, hoping he could actually get some sleep before Sakura showed up again.

**Hetalia Academy 4****th**** Period **

"Ludwig please pass the flour, Ve~!" Ludwig nodded and silently handed the flour to his bubbly girlfriend, who was deeply immersed in measuring out the dry ingredient for the cake in Home Ect.

If the German boy were to ever tell anyone that Feliciana Vargas, the school's resident ditz, could sit still and be quiet for more than a few minutes they would've called him a liar, up until the year before last he would've agreed with them.

When Ludwig Beilschmidt first transferred from Germany to go to go to school with his older brother he never would've thought he would make friends with two girls on completely opposite ends of the personality spectrum, let alone fall in love with the most bubbly, disorganized, laziest, sweetest, most wonderful girl he'd ever met.

Feliciana had practically assaulted him as soon as they got out of classes the first day and offered to show him around and while initially awkward around her he'd eventually warmed up to the Italian girl –despite her sister's vehement protests. Eventually, after a rather humiliating conversation about his feelings with his brother that mostly consisted of Gilbert laughing at him, he'd realized that he'd developed quiet a crush on Feli. That crush had soon developed into full-blown love and before he knew what had happened his brother had been shoving him out the door and refusing to let him back until he'd asked Feliciana out. He'd stayed with Sakura for almost a week.

That would've been the trend had Gilbert's best friend Francis not taken an interest in Feli two days before Valentine's Day. When Ludwig had seen Francis leering over Feli with the small girl almost in tears he'd beaten the Frenchman half to death before dragging Feliciana off and proceeded to kiss her senseless. Once he'd realized what he done the German boy had pulled back and stuttered out an apology, red faced and ashamed. Feliciana had then grab his tie and pull him into another kiss, equally red faced. After officially asking her out two days later –and after going through a very, very painful and embarrassing interrogation with Lovina who had finally deemed him almost worthy to take her sister on one date– they had become an item and had remained that way for the better part of two and a half years.

However, recently Ludwig had been feeling oddly…inadequate when he was around Feliciana. While they did have quite a bit in common their approaches to the same topic were completely different, not to mention they were about as different as two people could get. Where as Feli was bubbly, bright, happy, and permanently optimistic, he was cold, serious, straight-laced, and slightly pessimistic. He felt one day someone would come along who was much better suited for Feli than he was.

"Ve~ Ludwig? Are you okay?" Feli asked curiously as her boyfriend's face twisted into a frown. The frown was immediately removed from Ludwig's face, replaced with a small smile as he shook his head.

"_Nien_. Nothing is wrong, _Liebling_. We should focus on the cake, _Ja_?" Feliciana almost frowned; she hated it when Ludwig kept secrets from her.

"Si. It'll be so yummy, Ve~!" She replied, attempting to keep on her happy face; this was one of the few classes she shared with Ludwig after all and she needed to make the most of it.

**Hetalia Academy End of 4****th**** Period**

"Svanna!" Mathias cried as he tackled the small girl. Surprisingly, Svanna did not topple over, but simply shoved the much larger teen off her and onto the floor.

"Stupid Dane," she muttered and started walking toward her next class. Mathias scrabbled up and followed her; ignoring the fact his class was the opposite direction. Svanna noticed but didn't comment, knowing from experience that the Danish boy would simply ignore her. Mathias had always been stupid and stubborn, especially when it came his childhood friend. Svanna, for her part, often threatened (and carried out) acts of violence on the Dane's person that almost certainly resulted in the loss of brain cells, however, she never outright told him to leave her alone.

When Svanna and her mother had moved in with her new stepfather Abram Mikkelson (though she had kept her dead father's last name, Bondevik) and his daughter Mira from Norway, the Kohler's had immediately come over and greeted them. Mathias had been excited at the prospect of a new playmate. Mira was too young to play with in his opinion, and even though Svanna had been both a girl and had unresponsive to his attempts to befriend her the Danish boy had refused to give up.

However, during elementary school Svanna's mother was struck by a car and killed. Svanna fell into a deep depression, refusing to talk to anyone and never smiling or showing any emotion. After three months of this Mathias barged into her room and enveloped her a hug. And while initially Svanna attempted to shove him away the Dane held firm and she eventually relented and allowed Mathias to hold her close.

"It's okay to cry Svanna," Mathias had said, "It hurts me to see you like this." Almost instantly the Norwegian girl had broken down and begun sobbing into the boy's chest. In that moment Mathias realized he would do anything for Svanna, he would always protect her. Eventually Berwald, Tina, and Mira were added to their group and the five of them soon became a small family –with the exception of Mathias and Berwald who seemed to hate each other on principle. And after several years, sometime during their first two years in middle school Mathias realized he'd fallen head over heels for the petite Norwegian girl, he loved her with all his heart.

Despite how close they were Mathias had never acted on his feelings for the smaller girl; Svanna had always been rather indifferent to the opposite sex and Mathias in particular had always apparently been held in a rather…unfavorable light. At least that was what everyone had thought until…

Mathias quickly shook his head. He _refused_ to think about _that_. That incident had utterly crushed him, because for a brief time Svanna had been completely out of reach and then her heart had been shattered, shattering his in the process. No! He wouldn't think about it!

"Hey…Idiot, you're going to-" Smack!

"Ouch!" Mathias yelped and fell backwards after running into Svanna's classroom's door. Svanna raised an eyebrow as the other observers snickered or out right laughed. The Dane sheepishly rubbed the growing welt on his forehead and glanced up at Svanna, who was now had a small I-told-you-so smirk.

"I warned you, you idiot." Mathias frowned for a moment before hopping to his feet and grinning.

"Were you worried, Sv? That's so sweet." The smirk disappeared.

"Don't flatter yourself. I just don't need you failing another class because of lost brain cells," she paused then added, "Not that there were many to begin with."

"Hey-!"

"You're going to be late," She said, cutting off what would doubtlessly be an attempt to defend his intelligence (though he admittedly did fairly poor in academics. He just wasn't very good at focusing, damn it!) Mathias sighed and glanced behind the pale haired girl to see Berwald and Tina sitting together near the window, an empty spot next to them that was no doubt reserved for Svanna. The Dane frowned briefly before returning his gaze to the girl before him and grinning.

"Right! Better get going then! See you later, Sv!"

"_Farvel_." Svanna turned around and walked into the classroom and after a moment Mathias did an about face and began to walk toward his class, but not before sending a fearsome glare Berwald's direction. It really wasn't fair, not only did Svanna have no interest in him but also she obviously liked someone else, someone who would also break her heart. Svanna liked the one person he couldn't stand; Svanna liked Berwald.

**Hetalia Academy 5****th**** Period **

"_Hej_ Svanna!" Tina chirped as the Norwegian girl entered the classroom.

"_Hej_ Tina, Berwald," Svanna replied as she sat down. Berwald nodded his acknowledgement and noticed the fierce glare Mathias sent him out of the corner of his eye. Really, that idiot needed to admit his feelings to Svanna and not just seethe jealously when ever she hung out with someone who wasn't him, particularly himself and Tina (mostly him though, Mathias was actually quite fond of Tina). It wasn't like Svanna would reject Mathias anyways.

"Hey Ber! Do you wanna do something after school?" Tina's sunny voice brought him out of his revere.

"S'r," his answer slightly diluted by his extremely thick Swedish accent. Tina grinned and turned toward their companion.

"Great! Svanna do you want to come to?" Svanna shot a quick look at Berwald before shaking her head. Tina's face fell but she soon returned to her former good humor.

"Oh well… it'll still be fun with the just the two of us, right Ber? We can go see a movie and then go to that one place off Main Street that sells the really authentic Swedish food!" Tina chattered, her Finnish accent thickening as her excitement increased.

"Ja," he responded. As Tina continued to talk about what they could do later Berwald allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts.

He and Tina had been friends for as long as he could remember. Tina was the only one who had dared to looked past his permanent scowl and stern glare and really try to get to know him. He was also the first person who stuck up for Tina and could silently sit and listen to her chattering. After a few years their friendship slowly evolved into something more, though both hadn't really noticed until Svanna and Mira got fed up with their obliviousness and forced them together through a series of embarrassing conversations and awkward dates in third year of middle school. Eventually Berwald had hesitantly confessed his feelings to an equally nervous Tina, who, blushing brightly had admitted to feeling the same way. The next day they were officially a couple. The whole school had practically sighed in relief and Svanna had rather bluntly explained to a confused Tina and Berwald that the whole school knew about their feelings except for those two. Needless to say the two had been sufficiently embarrassed.

Things had been going very well for the past few years but unfortunately there was a very important event coming up that Berwald was both dreading and excited for, Prom.

Now, Prom in itself wasn't that big of a deal, in fact it barely made a terribly big blip on the radar of life but Berwald knew that Tina wanted to go and he wanted to go with her but… Call him a coward (Mathias did that a lot upon discovering his predicament) but he was scared of asking Tina to Prom. It was silly really; that he was scared of asking his girlfriend and life long friend to a dance and its not so much the fear that she would say no but… Berwald frowned and resisted the urge to bury his head in his hands. Weren't girl supposed to the one's who stressed about this kind of thing?!

"Ber? You okay?" Tina asked, her voice startling the Swede out of his musings, "You've been awfully quiet." The Finnish girl placed a hand on his shoulder but before he could answer the teacher walked in.

"All right class! Please get out your books and turn to page 57. Miss Bondevik, will you please read-" And class begun, keeping Berwald from dwelling anymore on his dilemma and as he pushed his glasses further up on his face; he couldn't help but be grateful for small miracles.

**Hetalia Academy 6****th**** Period **

Sierra Zwingli wasn't what you would call a girly girl though not quite a tomboy either. The Swiss girl was a crack shot with anything from a pistol to an assault rifle but still managed to be one of the best looking girls in school, not that she really cared about that sort of thing. She was more concerned with her guns, her little sister Lilli, and saving money; looks just didn't rank very high on her list of priorities. As she changed into her gym clothes she oblivious to the jealous looks the other girls shot at her and when she walked out of the changing room she was oblivious to the looks the hungry looks boys gave her. But even though she was ignorant of these looks did not mean everyone else was.

Roderich glared from the other side of the gym at the other boys as they watched Sierra. The Austrian born musician and his childhood friend, a Hungarian girl by the name of Elizaveta Hendervary, watched as Sierra made her way out of the changing room. The Hungarian girl couldn't help but smirk at Roderich's obvious jealousy.

"Jealous Roddy?" She teased. Roderich glared at her from above his glasses (a real feat considering she was a good deal shorter than he was).

"You're crazy, Lizzy," He responded curtly and returned to glaring at Sierra's admirers.

It just wasn't fair! Roderich remembered when the three of them had been neighbors when they were children. She had been quite the tomboy, but still helped him home when he would get beaten up by older and stronger boys, i.e. Gilbert and Sadik, even Toris and Janina on occasion. He also remembered when Elizaveta's parents had died and she had come to live with Roderich and his parents and had become much closer to Sierra and himself. The three had become thick as thieves for most of elementary school, until the first year of middle school when a nasty falling out between Sierra and Roderich had split the trio in half, with Elizaveta and Roderich remaining close while Sierra went of on her own, becoming quite the loner for most of middle school.

This had continued for two years before Lilli and Elizaveta had –in and attempt to defuse the tension between the two- locked them in a broom closet and refused to let them out until they "talked about their feelings". The two had stayed in that closed for almost 48 hours before he had finally cracked and apologized. They were now friends once again, though not nearly as close they once were.

But despite all this Roderich had found his feelings for the beautiful blonde haired, green eyed, Swiss girl had not faded nor even faltered for a moment, even when he had supposedly hated her during middle school. Sierra was the most beautiful, smart, and most talented girl he'd ever met. Even when they were kids she'd been the pinnacle of what a girl should be in his mind, it had only been a matter of time before he fell hard for a childhood friend. Unfortunately, Sierra had no intention of being in a relationship. She and Roderich were friends; just friends and he refused to risk that fragile bond for a silly and one-sided love, no matter how difficult it might be sometimes, gym class in particular.

"Sierra!" Elizaveta called, catching the blonde's attention and waving her over, obviously noticing a perfect opportunity to make him uncomfortable since their school's gym clothes were not designed with modesty as the foremost concern. Roderich sent her a glare; Elizaveta just giggled.

Sierra was not pleased, not pleased at all. They were together again, Elizaveta and Roderich. She liked Elizaveta just fine but it really wasn't fair how she and Roderick were together all the damn time. She was Roderich's friend too! Friend…it seemed that was all she would ever be. Her hopelessly unrequited crush on Roderich was made no easier by the fact her obviously had lingering feelings for Elizaveta. She sighed and walked over to the pair.

"_Bonjour_," she said as she reached the two, "Am I late?" Elizaveta shook her head.

"No you're good. The teacher hasn't arrived yet," The Hungarian smirked, "I think I saw out back with Miss Abelia." Roderich and Elizaveta rolled their eyes.

"Elizaveta…" Svanna began.

"It's been obvious those two are together since the beginning of the year," Roderich finished. Elizaveta's eyes widened.

"What!"

**Hetalia Academy Rooftop**

Janina Łukasiewicz and Toris Lorinaitis were undoubtedly the strangest couple at Hetalia Academy. Having been together since they were four years old when Janina stood on top of the playground and declared Toris her boyfriend for the entire world to hear. Toris had turned bright red but never done anything to deny her claims. According to many they were soul mates. Even though fate apparently had an odd sense of humor, pairing the loud, obnoxious, and rather shameless Janina with the timid, quiet, and perpetually terrified Toris they had remained strong and faithful. Despite a brief split when Toris had been under his brother, Ivan's, thumb they had always been together, as close as two polar opposites could be.

"Janina! Will you please listen to me?" Toris said frustrated with his girlfriend's inattention to what was supposed to be a study session during their final period.

"Like, sorry Liet," Janina said completely insincerely. Toris rolled his eyes at the childish nickname, coming from his Lithuanian heritage. The Lithuania word for their country was Lietuva and upon realizing that Toris was Lithuanian Janina, a polish born immigrant when she was barely three years old, had immediately seized upon the name and shortened it to Liet, the name had stuck with him ever since.

They had always been considered 'together' but even though Janina asserted her claim on the Lithuanian they never really seemed like a couple. They held hands and spent a lot of time together but it seemed they were best friends rather than a couple. However, the pair's second year of middle school something had changed. Toris found his assumed feelings, which had always leaned more towards platonic than romantic, changing toward his childhood friend. After much inner debate and advice from Eduard and Ravis (who really just called him a coward and asked, "You aren't dating her already?" respectively) he finally plucked up his courage and asked Janina on a proper date. She accepted gleefully and they had been official ever since. Though admittedly few people noticed a difference, even the couple themselves barely noticed a change –minus the fact Janina would now lean over and kiss him, making him blush and stutter (often succeeding in her goal of making him lose focus on whatever he'd been doing and switch his attentions to her).

However, Toris knew Prom was coming up. Not that Toris didn't necessarily _not want_ to go, rather Janina wanted to go and he wanted to make Janina happy. Toris liked Janina, a lot. There wasn't much he wouldn't do to make her happy, including going to Prom. But that in itself was far from an easy task. Janina had high expectations, for anything and being asked to Prom was _definitely_ something she'd expected to be…memorable. And in all honesty, Toris was a bit cowardly. Listening to Ivan his entire life and being utterly terrified of his younger brother hadn't exactly done wonders for his self-esteem so asking his high-expecting-loud-and-slightly-scary girlfriend to Prom was a challenge to say the least.

Toris sighed and dropped his chin into his palm.

"Janina, _Prašom_! We need to study for this test," he pleaded. The blonde girl just grinned and pecked her boyfriend on the mouth. Toris blushed and returned to his studying, his face still burning. No matter how often Janina kissed him it still had the same mortifying affect. He shook his head and attempted to focus, finally abandoning his attempts to get Janina to do the same.

Janina frowned. More and more often lately Toris had been ignoring her in favor of other things, more specifically work or…Natalya. Natalya Arlovskaya was the girl who was known as the girl who loved Ivan and cold, sharp steel. She was also a bit, in most if not all of the school's opinion, insane. Unfortunately, she had also been the girl who had held Toris' heart for the majority of their childhood. Even though the Belarusian girl had only paid attention to Toris because he was Ivan's brother and Ivan tolerated no but him pummeling his brother.

When Janina had declared Toris her boyfriend she had known full well he hadn't returned the sentiments and while it had hurt to know the person she loved didn't love her, at least not the same way she loved him, she had kept up the pretense just to keep other girls away. The day Toris had asked her out had been the best day of her life and when Toris had admitted to loving her a few days later she had been on top of the world for days. She had smiled for hours even her inattentive brother Vladimir and his girlfriend Nikolina had noticed how excited and pleased she was (though it was really only Vlad that was inattentive, Nikolina was very kind, very smart, and a far better girl than her brother deserved in her opinion). For the last few years everything had seemed perfect but…

Natalya maybe insane but she was beautiful and nowhere near as high maintenance as Janina knew herself to be. Janina knew she was demanding and had high standards, she knew she could be annoying and she was no where near as smart as other girls, nor as curvy, or as pretty. Janina was scared; more scared then she'd been in a long time, more scared than she'd been when she'd first met Berwald, more scared than the time she and Toris she gone on their first real date and she'd set the table cloth on fire. Toris might be leaving her and she was very, very scared.

**Hetalia Academy Late Evening**

A figure stood on top of the Academy roof balanced perilously on the ledge. "It would be so easy they thought to just step off and end it all, just one step," they thought. The figure looked over the edge; they stepped up and raised their arms as if they were balanced on the edge of a ship. The figure found it mournfully ironic that in the scene from Titanic, Rose felt alive and hopeful while doing this, where as they felt only despair and fear. The figure closed their eyes and imagined falling; it would be so easy to just lean a little to far. They remained there for a few more moments before slowly opening their eyes, stepping down, and walking back inside.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: A new story idea that i've been working for...about three months. A friend of mine read it and she loved it so that motivated me to finish it. I hope you enjoyed it! Enough to leave a review maybe? Constructive Criticism and support please!

Request Format

1. Send a Pm detail the prompt. Prompt should include: Fandom, characters, and a story prompt. Pairings are optional but preferred.

2. I will get back to you with in 24 hours accepting or declining. I will only decline if I do not like the pair or do not know of the fandom.


	2. Taking Steps Part 1

Audrey Bacon

The Trial and Error Process of Life and Love

Chapter 2: Taking Steps

Start –March 17, 13

End – May 17, 13

**Warnings**: thought of suicide, mentioned homosexuality, teenage angst

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Hetalia-Axis Powers. They belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. However, I do own the plot and characterizations of these particular incarnations of the Hetalia Characters

_Svanna_ _clutched her books close to her chest and glanced anxiously around, waiting for her boyfriend. She smiled a little at the thought. She had a boyfriend. He was kind and sweet, not loud or obnoxious like _some_ people she knew. She waited calmly for a few more minutes before deciding to go look for her beau, who was late picking her up from class. Svanna pushed off of the wall she'd been leaning against and walked around the corner. _

_Her books clattered to the ground with a loud bang. There in front of her was her boyfriend and a red head she'd seen a few times around school, making out viciously against the lockers. They separated slowly and turned face her. She struggled to speak and ask what the _hell_ was going on._

_ "I-I don't-"_

_ "Understand?" He said with a smirk, "It was game Svanna. A silly game my _real_ girlfriend and I came up with. We decided it'd be funny to see if I could make even the infamous robot girl of Hetalia Academy fall for me. And you boy did you fall easily," He said maliciously, a cruel smirk twisting his features. The girl giggled._

_ "You should be grateful to us, Svanna. We proved you weren't a robot to everyone. You should see yourself, Svanna, not so mechanical after all, huh?" She giggled again and Svanna slowly brought a hand up to her face and realized with a jolt she was crying. She hadn't cried since her mother had died. _

_ "Come one," her…ex-boyfriend said, tugging on the redhead's arm, "Let's go before robot girl has a short circuit." They laughed as the walked down the hall and around the corner, leaving Svanna crying silently in the hall. _

Beep! Beep! The shrill sound of her alarm clock jolted Svanna awake. Her eyes snapped open and she sat straight up, smacking her against the top of the bunk bed she and Mira shared. She didn't even notice.

Mira groaned when the alarm didn't stop its incessant beeping, that was usually Svanna's job since Mira would just roll back over and go back to sleep.

"Svanna, turn the alarm off," she mumbled sleepily, "Svanna!" She rolled over and leaned over the bed so she could see her sister on the bottom bunk. Svanna was sitting straight up her eyes slightly glazed over as she stared directly in front of her, a small red spot on her forehead. Mira frowned and pushed herself back up before slipping off and onto the freezing hardwood floor.

"Svanna…Are you okay?" the Icelandic girl whispered, not minding the cold that was seeping through her pajamas. Her sister blinked a few times before seemingly becoming cognizant.

"Mira?" She asked slowly, voice trembling slightly. Mira understood instantly. Svanna had had that dream again. It had been a year since Svanna discovered the cruel game her boyfriend and his real girlfriend had played with her and her feelings and ever since the memories had haunted her older sister, now too terrified to open up to anyone ever again.

Mira knew the rumors about her sister, that she was emotionless and cold. And while it was true that Svanna didn't show her emotions often she definitely had them. Mira remembered listening outside the door as Svanna had cried in Mathias' arms after her mother (and Mira's step-mother) had died, she had seen Svanna angry and in pain. Her sister was not a robot _fjandinn (damn it)_!

Mira pulled her sister into a hug and the two simply sat there for a moment, heedless of the cold and the pressing need to get ready for school.

"I'm okay, Mira," Svanna said after a minute, "We need to get ready." Mira let go and nodded. Mira couldn't help her sister. She didn't know what it was like to have your heartbroken (not broken, stepped on, shattered, _thrown on the floor and stomped on_) and while she prayed she would never know, she wanted to help her big sister, who had already helped her so much. The Icelandic girl paused. Mira couldn't help Svanna, but maybe someone else could…

**Hetalia Academy 1****st**** Period **__

Sakura glanced to the seat next to her. Herakles was asleep again. The Japanese girl sighed. How the Greek boy could sleep so much was beyond her. In his sleep several strands of Herakles' soft brown hair had fallen in front of his face and without thinking Sakura reached towards the Grecian boy's hair to smooth them back into place, but quickly pulled her hand back in mortification once she realized what she was doing.

Having been raised in a strict and traditional Japanese household she had been taught to believe physical contact, especially in public, was indecent and though Feliciana was gradually helping her overcome her fear through excessive amounts of hugs, contact with her closest girl friend was completely different than contact with a boy, especially Herakles, whom she'd a rather crush on for almost two years now.

In the time they'd known each other Sakura's admiration for the confident, easy-going Grecian boy had quickly turned into romantic interest, but a deep-seated fear of rejection kept her feelings locked away in her heart. Herakles was smart and good looking, most of the girls in the school would through themselves at his feet if he looked their way and yet he choose to stay by her. He chose to talk with her and be her friend and that was more than enough for the Japanese girl. Their friendship just wasn't worth sacrificing over a hopelessly unrequited crush. But just because their friendship was satisfying didn't mean Sakura didn't long for more and it was at times like this when the urge to get closer to Herakles were especially difficult.

Sakura glanced around the empty room hesitantly before placing a hand in Herakles' shoulder and giving it a gentle shake. She shook a bit harder but the brunette gave no indication of waking.

"Herakles-_kun_!" She whispered loudly, "Please wake up. Class will be beginning in a few minutes." Herakles made an odd snorting sound and rolled his head over a few times so it eventually ended up so his face was towards her. Sakura sighed at the subconscious gesture of denial (she was certain it was subconscious because Herakles never allowed his eyes to shut while awake. Oddly enough when he was awake the Grecian boy's eyes were open, not too wide, but wide enough so someone could see the green of his eyes without really trying. As if he was afraid that if he closed them he'd fall back asleep). Suddenly, feeling very embolden by the previous physical contact and the empty room, Sakura leaned forward placing her face directly in front of his barely an inch apart, so close she could feel the soft puffs of his breath on her face. "This is insane," she thought hesitantly before speaking,

"Herakles…Herakles, please wake up."

A soft voice echoed through Herakles' head as he slowly returned to consciousness. He drowsily opened his eyes a fraction only to have them snap open and a blush to blossom across his cheeks. Sakura was close, way too close! Her face was red as she jumped back and returned to her seat in an instant. Herakles was now sitting straight up in his chair; his face still beat red and he watched Sakura with a combination of shock, curiosity, and embarrassment.

The Japanese girl was staring at her desk, her face just as red. As Herakles was about to open his mouth at question the tiny girl the first group of students opened the door and took their seats, a few saying their hellos to the rooms first occupants. Herakles didn't respond. What the heck had just happened?

**Hetalia Academy Humanities Wing **

"Thanks for walking me to class, Ber," Tina said as she and Berwald approached her first class of the day, "You're such as sweetheart." Berwald blushed and, in a sudden moment of courage, leaned down and gave Tina kiss; not a simple peck either, but just short of a passionate kiss. He pulled away leaving Tina a beet red.

"See y' l't'r," he said before turning around and heading toward his class. Tina stood there a moment before turning around and entering her classroom, still blushing bright red.

Berwald was never particularly demonstrative in public. He held her hand and would give her hugs and simple pecks, but never a real kiss. Those he only gave her when they were completely alone. Something like this was…new. Berwald was generally quite shy but he always had little gestures for her that made her feel special, made her feel loved.

Recently however, things had begun to change. Berwald had become much more physical. It wasn't that she didn't like the affection per say, it was just a bit strange and changes in the usually meticulous and orderly Berwald made her nervous. Maybe he was forcing himself to be affectionate because he was forcing himself to stay beside her? Maybe he didn't like her anymore but was staying with her because he was too nice a person to leave.

Tina shook her head to rid it of such thoughts. She loved Berwald very much and he loved her, she just needed to have faith in him and what he was doing. Berwald already called her his 'wife', that hadn't changed, so maybe there was hope yet. Tina smiled at the thought of being Berwald's wife for real as she sat down.

"Hello, Leon," She said, her voice chipper. Leon glanced up at her and nodded. The Finnish girl frowned.

"Is something wrong?" She asked. Leon's eyes -usually blank, only showing mirth and amusement at the expense of others- were conflicted and upset. He glanced up at her before lowering his head and focusing on the desk. Sensing his reluctance Tina placed a hand on his shoulder,

"Is it about Mira?" She asked slowly. Leon nodded.

"I guess…" He began hesitantly, "I am…unsure of her feelings towards me." "A man of few words indeed," thought Tina. She sighed and removed her hand.

"Well…if you want my advice…I think, in these kind of situations, you just need to take a leap of faith." Leon turned to gaze at her intensely before speaking again,

"What do you mean?"

"Well…you need to tell her how you feel or you'll both be uncertain and confused. You're not moving anywhere now, if anything you're going backwards. You're both losing the trust and faith you've built in each other over the years. Just tell her what's going on, explain from your heart and she'll understand." A warm, albeit tiny, smile crept onto Leon's face.

"She is very smart."

"It's more than that," Tina corrected, becoming more passionate as she spoke, "If what you tell her comes from your heart and if her heart is connected with yours then she'll understand what you mean, even if you don't." Leon raised an eyebrow.

"That's…incredibly corny."

"It's true!" The Finnish girl demanded. Leon sighed.

"Even so, it's a nice thought. Thanks for the advice," He said, face once again blank but Tina could see the wheels working in his head. She smiled.

"_Ei kestä_ _(you're welcome_), anytime Leon."

"I'm such a hypocrite," She thought, once again slightly depressed, "I tell him something like that but I can't even follow my own advice."

**Hetalia Academy 2****nd**** Period **

Ludwig clenched his fists underneath his desk as he watched various classmates -_male_ classmates- as they walked up and flirted with Feliciana, who was totally oblivious as always as she stood a few paces away, having been intercepted before she could reach her spot beside him by said classmates. She merely interpreted their flirtatious behavior as attempts at friendliness and answered their questions with earnest enthusiasm and happiness. Ludwig quickly attempted to quell his more jealous and possessive side. It didn't come out often but when it did it came out fiercely and would often lead to do things he would otherwise do, as proven with the story of how he and Feli had gotten together.

As he watched the boys' futile attempts at flirting he couldn't help but watch the way they came up to Feli, with large smiles and friendly demeanors that seemed parallel to Feliciana's own blithe personality. Ludwig bit his lower lip at the thought. There were so many others in this school that were much more compatible with Feli. And many more who undoubtedly would get Lovina's approval, a factor that was very important to Feli as her sister was her only living family (though the word _many_ might be a bit of a stretch).

"_Yo, Westen (yo West)_!" Gilbert's voice called, startling the younger German brother out of his self-depreciating thoughts.

"_Hallo (hello),_ Gilbert." Ludwig replied as his brother plopped down into the chair next to him.

"Thinking about Feli?" Gilbert asked with a smirk.

"How did-"

"_Belieben Westen (please, West)_," Gilbert said, cutting off his little brother with a smirk, "You always get this love struck, sappy look on your face when you think about your ditzy little puppy of a girlfriend." Ludwig frowned at his older half-brother's description of Feliciana, to which Gilbert just laughed and slapped the blonde on his shoulder.

"Don't worry so much West," Gilbert reassured, leaning back in his chair, his feet propped up on the desk, balancing on the back to chair legs as he watched Feli innocently answer her admirers' questions, "Feli adores you. She wouldn't cheat if that what you're worried about. She spent to long mooning over you to give you up for some other _verlierer (loser), _unless you do something stupid, of course. And I suppose, since it is Feli, that you just fix it with chocolate or something…" Ludwig quirked an eyebrow skeptically, "Okay maybe fix it with pasta then!" Gilbert insisted, pouting as he sat up, slamming his chair forward.

The crash covered the noise of the classroom door opening. Ludwig, who was facing towards the door, noticed when it opened as well as when Madeline Williams slipped in. He was about to point her out to his brother when Gilbert began talking again.

"Girls are so complex and way too much trouble if you ask me. And of course why wouldn't you ask me? I'm awesome." Ludwig opened his mouth but he was once again cut off by his brother's tirade.

"Girls are a waste of time and are more trouble then they're worth. The awesome me will never _ever_ waste my time on a girl!" Ludwig's eyes widened and he glanced behind Gilbert to watch…what was her name again? Matilda? Mary? To watch what's-her-name's face twist into shock then fall in disappointment, her eyes downcast as she shuffled across the room and dropped into an empty seat. Ludwig frowned and glanced at Gilbert who was watching him with a puzzled look.

"Something wrong, West?" Ludwig frowned.

"But don't you have a girlfriend? Emily's sister…Matilda?" Gilbert frowned.

"First off, her name is Madeline, Ma-de-line. Remember it already would ya'? And no, she's not my girlfriend; I wouldn't date her. I mean sure, she's great but, as I _just_ said, I'm not really into all that relationship stuff." Ludwig glanced at Madeline, who was now glaring at her text notes as if she were hoping they might catch fire if she stared hard enough in an obvious to try and control her emotions –though she was failing spectacularly.

The blonde sighed and shook his head. This couldn't be good. If all he did was make things worse between Gilbert and…what's-her-name then how was he supposed to make things work in his own relationship? This had to be an omen against him. He returned to watching Feli, who was still flitting around, answering questions, and talking her to admirers with the same cheerful smile.

Ludwig sighed again.

Feli glanced over to see Ludwig watching her from his usual place beside Gilbert, the seat on the other side of him still empty and waiting for her. She caught her boyfriend's eye as he glanced at her. She sent him her biggest, happiest smile, the one she reserved specially for him.

Ludwig's lips quirked up in a small smile at Feliciana's grin, making his bubbly, sweet girlfriend _beam_ with happiness. "Then again," the German mused, "maybe what we have going isn't so bad after all."

**Hetalia Academy 2****nd**** Period Study Hall**

"What do you think, Tomato Bastard?" Lovina asked after she finished explaining her plan to Antonio.

"I think it's marvelous, _Encanta (love)_. You can do absolutely anything you want to. Becoming a fashion designer will be easy!" Antonio praised, meaning every word of adoration that spilt from his lips. His Lovi was so talented and smart she would be able to conquer the world if she wanted too! The thought brought an affectionate smile to Antonio's face.

"Not _just_ a fashion designer, bastard! An editor of a fashion magazine _and_ a designer!" Antonio just grinned, far to accustom to Lovina unorthodox pet names to be perturbed by the insult.

"Of course, _Mi_ _Tomate (my tomato)_." Just then, the teacher passed by their seat and overheard the end of their conversation.

"Why, Miss Vargas! That's very ambitious, I'm impressed!" Lovina blushed under the praise, not used to people beside Antonio giving her compliments. The teacher turned to Antonio,

"And you Mr. Carriedo? What do you plan to do once you graduate?" Antonio searched for a response but couldn't find one that sounded adequate enough, finally settling on a safe answer.

"I don't know, _Professora (professor)_." The teacher's smile never faltered.

"Well that's alright. You still have some time. I didn't decide till my second year of college after all! Have you picked a college yet?" She asked, still smiling. Antonio shook his head slowly.

"I hadn't even thought about that yet, _Señora (Ma'am)_." Truthfully he had thought about it but more pressing matters -like this month's rent- had pushed it to the back of his mind. The teacher gave a slight frown.

"Really? I would've thought you had least picked a few colleges by now. My goodness Mr. Carriedo, you're a senior and you haven't thought of college? Miss Vargas here is a junior and it sounds like she has everything all planned out!" Antonio rubbed the back off his head sheepishly, an embarrassed smile on his face.

"_Lo siento, Professora (I'm sorry, teacher)_." The teacher sighed and shook her head as she walked away. Antonio didn't stopping smiling but tumulus thoughts swirled around in his head. The teacher was right of course. He did need to think more about this. Lovi had prospects; he didn't. If he stayed with Lovi (which he dearly hoped he would) how he would provide for her?

Lovina glanced at Antonio, who'd dropped his smile and adopted a pensive expression as soon as the _maestra (teacher)_ walked away.

"What the _cazzo_ (_fuck) _is wrong, _Tomate Bastardo_ _(tomato bastard)_?" The Italian asked, genuinely concerned despite her crass words. Almost instantly Antonio's smile returned, though Lovina could tell it was a bit forced.

"Nothing, _Tomate_ _(tomato)_." Lovina frowned and huffed as she turned away.

Antonio sighed and stared at Lovi's pouting form, his own frown forming slowly. This had been the routine for weeks. He would say something to Lovi and she would get upset or she would become sullen and withdrawn, ignoring him for most of the day then suddenly becoming uncharacteristically affectionate. Why was this happening? Was their relationship falling apart? Was he the cause? Questions swirled around the Spaniard's mind as the bell rang.

Lovina gasped as she suddenly felt herself get pulled into a strong embrace.

"Toni-!" What ever she was about to say was cut off as Antonio captured her lips with his own in a sweet kiss. The Italian girl instantly melted into Antonio's strong embrace. As the other students rushed around them (far too used to the couple's PDA to be disturbed by their affections, odd as those affections were sometimes) the two completely lost themselves in the feeling of each other, everything else fading away around them.

When they finally broke apart Lovina gave her boyfriend a small, rare smile. Antonio returned the smile and rested his forehead against her.

"See you later, _Encanta (love)_?" Lovina nodded.

"_Ciao (bye),_ Antonio," She replied softly, the smile still on her face as she pulled away. The Spaniard grinned at the use of his name. The grin stayed as Lovi walked out of the classroom and the next group of students filed in.

"Yo! Toni!" Gilbert's call from the doorway snapped the brunette out if his trance, "Come on! Franny wants to ditch next period. Let's go!"

"Like you'd ditch," Antonio said as he made his way over to his friends, "You've got class with the lovely Madeline next hour." Antonio never had trouble remembering his girlfriend's best friend's name. Maddie and Lovi had been thick as thieves since freshman year.

Gilbert humphed and ignored the Spaniard's jest, stubbornly walking ahead of Antonio and Francis, who were both having a good laugh at their Prussian friend's expense, all thoughts of feisty girlfriends forgotten.


	3. Taking Steps Part 2

**Hetalia Academy 3****rd**** Period **

Maddie laughs at Gilbert as he mimics the art teacher's overly preppy, snobbish attitude.

"Excuse moi, excuse moi!" Gilbert said in a high pitch, too sweet tone as he mocked their teacher's butchering of Francis and Maddie's native tongue (a fact which always made the two cringe; Antonio too, when she decided to do Spanish), "Up against the wall! Part like the read sea for the all mighty teacher who takes up half the _verdammt (damn)_ hallway!"

Maddie struggled to suppress her giggles as the teacher made her way over to the pair.

"Are we almost done over here?" She asked, her voice dripping with poisoned honey. Maddie nodded.

"Yup."

"Good, good. Remember there's no such thing as a bad piece of art work!" The teacher chimed and she flounced off to go lecture another student about how they were painting the set poorly. Madeline giggle again as Gilbert flipped the bird at the teacher behind her back before sitting down and continuing to paint the set for the upcoming school play.

"_Verdammt_ (_damn)_ woman. We're not even in theater! Why are we painting the sets?" he muttered. Maddie smiled.

"Because we're the art class, Gilbert."

"We're free labor that's what. We're not even doing fucking art!" The Canadian rolled her eyes, still smiling, and continued to paint the castle backdrop. Gilbert continued to mutter but didn't attempt to strike up a conversation.

As they lapsed into silence Madeline found her thoughts wondering back to the conversation she had overheard between Gilbert and Ludwig last hour. Gilbert had said he wasn't into relationships and that he wouldn't date her. "He did say I was great though," Maddie thought, "That's got to count for something. But it could just mean I'm a great friend. Yeah…that's it. He couldn't like me like that. I'm reading to much into this…"

"-addie. Maddie. Yo! Madeline!" The sound of her name brought Maddie out of her thoughts.

"What is it Gil?" Gilbert pulled a peeved expression.

"I called you like six times. How can you not hear the awesome me!"

"Maybe you're not quite that awesome then," Maddie said, attempting to suppress a smile. Gilbert's eyes widened in horror,

"Blasphemy! Heathen! You wound me woman!" At that outburst and the albino's scandalized expression Maddie could no longer contain herself and burst into hysterical laughter. She shut her eyes and clutched her stomach in a feeble attempt to contain herself. The blonde was laughing so hard she missed Gilbert's expression change from offended to a fond smile for a brief instant before becoming one of vaguely irritated amusement.

"If you're quite done!" He called but it was a good few minutes before Madeline regained control of herself.

"S-Sorry Gil, I-I just…" The blonde trailed off still chuckling, wiping away traces of tears from her violet eyes.

Gilbert shook his head, an amused smile playing across his face. Madeline grinned as she returned to work on the set.

"Say Maddie…" Gilbert said after a moment of silence, "What were you thinking about earlier? You were really out of it."

Madeline didn't answer.

**Hetalia Academy 4****th**** Period**

Emily sat on the bench with the rest of the girls in gym class, waiting for their turn to take the field for soccer. While the other girls cheered for various teams or for their boyfriends and/or obsessions, the usually loud American had her bright blue eyes fixed on one boy in particular, Ivan Braginski. Emily watched as the Russian expertly moved his way across the field to steal the ball from Ludwig, only to have it stolen by Antonio at the last moment. Her lips twitched appreciatively as Ivan bent over, heaving from exertion at the intense game, and giving her a very good 'view'.

"Em…you're drooling," Alice said teasingly. Emily shot her best friend a glare before returning to the game.

"Shut up, Ali."

"Will you quit with that infernal nickname," Alice muttered, her attention not really on the old argument.

"I'll stop when you admit you're head over heels for Francis," Emily shot back. Alice's head whipped around and the two glared at each other for a moment before returning to the game.

At that moment Ivan glanced over and upon noticing Emily's eyes on him sent the American girl a smirk. Emily huffed and turned away, arms crossed. Ivan rolled his eyes and returned to the game.

A soft tap on her shoulder pulled Emily from her pouting. She turned around to see…

"Yao!" Emily cried excitedly as she jumped up and practically smothered the young Chinese man in a hug. Yao Wang offered Emily a small, indulgent smile, far too used to her wild antics to pay them much heed. Alice glanced at the two before returning her attention to the game, tuning the duo out completely.

"_Nǐ hǎo (hello)_ Emily. How've you been, aru?"

"Fine!" Emily replied enthusiastically, "It's been so boring since you graduated, there's no one to help me get into trouble anymore! But how're you and Yong Soo doing?" Im Yong Soo was Yao's South Korean boyfriend. The two had caused quiet a stir in the relatively small, conservative metropolis in the middle of nowhere, but most of the town's population had accepted the couple by now.

"He's fine, we both are. I just got a part-time job working at a pharmaceutical company. "You've sent out your applications for college right?" Emily asked excitedly, sitting down and pulling Yao down with to her. Yao nodded.

"Yes I have. I actually meant to tell you that I applied for several universities in America." Emily grinned

"Well duh! America's got the greatest medical schools in the world. We are the heroes after all!" She declared. Yao smiled indulgently.

"I thought that only you were a hero?" Emily huffed.

"Well…I'm the _best_ hero from the land of heroes, so it evens out." The pair laughed.

"But anyways," he said after their laughter died down, "That's not why I came here today."

"Hmm?" Emily replied, cocking her head silently in question.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to go to the movies with me on Friday. I know there's a new horror movie coming out and I thought maybe you'd like to go see it with me." Emily lit up, ever the fan of horror movies (even though they scared the living day lights out of her and she always ended up screaming for help less than twenty minutes in).

"Sure! Sounds fun!" Emily replied fervently. As she laughed excitedly, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Ivan giving her and Yao a death glare.

"What's his problem?" She muttered.

Yao smiled.

**Hetalia Academy Later**

Ivan sat quietly next to the other boys as they hooted and hollered at the girls, who were now taking their turn on the field playing football (Emily insisted on calling it soccer, stupid Yankee girl). Antonio was cheering for Lovina –and subtly sending death threats to the other guys who he caught ogling his girlfriend; the usually laidback Spaniard was surprisingly possessive- and Gilbert was watching Madeline appreciatively as she attempted to steal the ball from her best friend, all the while trying to hide his stare by pretending to be watching the other well-endowed girls in their gym class.

Ivan rolled his eyes. Gilbert was so stupid. He and the supposed Prussian had clashed since they were children and while their rivalry had softened over the years, the animosity of over a decade of dislike didn't disappear so easily. They were relatively decent friends now though.

Speaking of friends, what was Yao doing here and why was he talking to Emily? Yao was his best friend despite the one-year age difference between the two and even though the Chinese man had graduated they had remained close, talking as often as they could.

"Ivan?" the familiar voice called. The Russian turned to see Yao walking over with a small smile. Ivan stood and pulled his friend into a tight hug.

"What are you doing here, _kollega_ _(friend)_?" Ivan paused, "And how did you get on school grounds? I thought you decided to give up all of that sort of thing." Yao grinned.

"One exception won't hurt and what the faculty doesn't know won't kill them," Ivan smirked, no Yao hadn't changed at all, "But I wanted to ask you to go see that new horror movie with me on Friday." Ivan raised an eyebrow and Yao chuckled,

"Don't worry, only as friends." Ivan chuckled and ruffled his own platinum blonde hair absently.

"Of course, of course."

"So you'll go?"

"_Da_ _(yes)_, I'll go. Friday right?" Yao nodded. Suddenly Ivan remembered what he'd been thinking before Yao had come over.

"What were you talking to Emily about?"

"Oh nothing, really. Just reminding her about the money she owes me, is all." Ivan nodded. Emily was notorious for borrowing money from people and never returning it. She currently owed Yao alone almost 1,600 American dollars.

"Well…see you Friday then?" Yao nodded.

"Of course. See you then." Ivan decided he didn't like the smirk on Yao's face; that kind of smirk always promised trouble.

**Hetalia Academy Intermediate Period**

Alice rocked back and forth on her heels, not liking the situation one bit. She was currently waiting for her ditz of a best friend to come out of gym class. And while this situation wasn't particularly unusual, today Francis had decided to tag along with the two of them till their next class and was waiting with in the hall with her and Emily was taking her sweet time coming out of the locker room. Alone with the Frog; no, Alice didn't like this situation one bit.

"So, _cheri (darling)_ will you be gracing us with your presence at Prom next week?" Francis asked, a smirk on his face and his voice full of mirth. Alice frowned and answered curtly,

"No, probably not." It was Francis' turn to frown.

"And why not? It is senior year after all. Don't you want go and at least pretend you have some semblance of a social life?" Alice rolled her eyes.

"Unlike _some_ people I actually care about my future. Not all of us have money already that we can skate by on that allow us to go to parties every weekend. And besides, no one's asked me." Francis smirked.

"Perhaps it is those massive eyebrows. They scare away any potential suitors, not that are many to begin with." Alice frowned and looked down.

"Shut up, Frog." Heedlessly, Francis continued.

"Well, I suppose the few that aren't scared off by your eyebrows would certainly frightened off by the unseemly disarray in which you keep your hair. Or perhaps it's that permanent frown. It does nothing for those already frog colored eyes."

"Shut up…"

"Then again, if you stopped dressing like my grandmother you might-"

"Shut up! Shut up, Francis!" Alice yelled. Her eyes, which had been fixed on the ground locked with Francis' own and the blonde Frenchman was shocked to find them filled with tears.

"Alice…"

"Just shut up! I don't need you _Nā__ṉ__ ē__ṟ__ka__ṉ__avē e__ṉ__ mukattil teriyum katai ta__ḷḷ__um! (pushing shit I already know in my face!)" _As she turned to run away Alice felt a strong hand wrap around her wrist. She whirled around to glare at Francis who was staring at her intently.

"Let go of me you stupid Frog!" She cried, struggling to release herself from the Frenchman's grip while attempting to hold back tears.

"_Cheri (darling)_…" Francis' voice came softly, full of regret, "You know I didn't mean any of that right?" Alice's head snapped up. Her tear filled eyes met with Francis' guilty blue ones. The Brit's eyes were wide and full of shock. He didn't mean it, what kind of nonsense was that?!

"L-Liar! You think I'm ugly, you just said so!" Francis' eyes narrowed and he pulled the small girl close to him, close enough he could feel the heat from her cheeks and look straight into her hurt and shocked eyes.

"I never said that!" He insisted. Alice shook her head vehemently, making feeble attempts to shove the Frenchmen off.

"You've said it over and over again!"

"I haven't!"

"Prove it!" Alice shouted, abandoning her attempts in favor of glaring at Francis with a look that could boil metal, despite the tears. Francis narrowed his eyes and frowned. He leaned closer, his voice becoming no more than a whisper.

"You want me to prove it? Fine, _cheri (darling)_, I'll prove it…" Alice swallowed. Was he...? Francis leaned closer. They could feel each other's breath coming in soft puff on their lips. They were so close…

"Sorry that took so long!" Emily yelled bursting out from the locker room. The two flew apart. Alice's eyes were wide and full of…something, her face as red as one of Antonio and Lovina's tomatoes. Francis' face was also slightly flushed, his breath coming quickly and his eyes full of disappointment. However, the Frenchman quickly regained his composure.

"No problem,_ mon amie (my friend)_, but if you don't mind I'm afraid I'd forgotten promised to walk with Toni and Gilbert today. Goodbye Emily," He said smoothly, as if the last few minutes had never happened, "_Au revoir, cher amour (till we meet again, my dearest love)._"

"See ya' Francis!" Emily called after the Frenchman as he left to find his friends, waving exuberantly at Francis' retreating back. As soon as he rounded the corner Emily turned to Alice, who had finally regained her self-control, "What did he say?"

Alice shrugged as she began to walk toward their next classroom, which lay in the opposite direction as Francis had just left.

"Who knows? I don't speak a word of French. Probably something insulting, anyways." Emily glanced over her shoulder, eyebrow raised. Somehow, the American girl doubted Francis had been insulting them.

"Come on, Emily!" Alice called, about to round the corner.

"Coming!" Emily replied as she raced toward her best friend.

As the two continued to walk Alice couldn't help but notice something odd.

Francis hadn't made one comment to her as he left.

**Hetalia Academy 5****th**** Period**

"Ugh!" Mira snarled as she smashed her books on the table, sat down, and dropped her head onto her arms. Shula glanced over at her best friend, her face full of amusement and an inkling of curiosity (even though she was almost certain she knew the source of Mira's frustration).

"I give up!" Mira declared suddenly, sitting down and throwing her hands in the air, "I don't understand men at all! They're so…!"

"Complicated?" Shula offered drily.

"Frustrating!" Mira replied vehemently. Shula gave a snort of amusement.

"Sadik asked me out again…" Shula glanced over at Mira, who had muttered the remark with her head buried in her arms.

"And…?"

"And I said no of course!" Mira replied fiercely as her head snapped up. Shula simply rolled her eyes. Mira sighed and shifted so she was sitting behind the Egyptian girl. She then began to fiddle with Shula's thick, dark brown hair; braid it, undo it, put it in a bun, undo, repeat. Shula paid the Icelandic girl no mind.

"I don't understand why he keeps asking me. I turn him down but he just…" Mira trailed off.

"Sadik is stubborn about things he wants," Shula replied, flipping the page of the book she was reading.

"Indeed," Mira paused her braiding then continued, "but still…I just think…it's not fair."

"Life isn't fair."

"But you've li-" a sharp look out of the corner of the Egyptian girl's eye cut off Mira's word choice, "Been close him…for so long and it just seems so cruel!"

"You're very worked up."

"Of course I am!" Mira sat back in her chair and sighed as she shifted back around so she was next to her best friend, "I just…it doesn't seem right." Shula glanced over at the Icelandic girl.

"Maybe not but that's the way it is. And I'm content with just being his friend. He's happy and because of that I'm happy, no need to mess anything up just because I'm selfish. You shouldn't sacrifice anything for me," A small smile made it's way onto the Egyptian's face, "Not that continuously turning him down is much of a sacrifice." Mira chuckled.

Suddenly, the scrap of a chair being pulled out startled the girls away from their conversation. They looked over at the source of the commotion to see Leon sitting down in the chair next to Mira.

"Hello, Mira. Shula." He said with a small nod.

"_Halló (hello)_ Leon," Mira replied. Shula simply returned the nod. "How much did he hear?" Shula wondered absently, not terribly worried because even if he had heard Leon would never tell Sadik, not only because he couldn't stand Sadik but also because he wouldn't turn his back on both girls' (especially Mira's) trust like that.

The conversation died after the greetings and Shula noticed the subtle awkwardness that was lingering between the two. "Oh boy," She groused.

Suddenly, Leon wrapped an arm around Mira shoulders, pulled her close, and kissed her. Shula felt her mouth drop. Well _that_ was certainly unexpected.

In a feeble attempt to give the pair some privacy Shula glanced away and found her eyes resting on Sadik on the other side of the room. The Turkish boy had been passing by and stopped in a few moments after Leon did and was now glaring at the couple. More specifically, glaring at Leon. The Egyptian winced at the ferocity of the glare. If looks could kill Leon would be dead several times over. Sadik slowly began to walk over. "This is not good!" Shula thought as she began to panic.

Suddenly, the echoing of the bell snapped the couple apart and stopped Sadik in his tracks. Shula moved quickly, shifting so he was in-between the couple and an enraged Sadik. Were it anyone else Sadik would've simply barreled through them, but Shula had long since discovered she possessed the unique talent of calming Sadik's legendary temper. She shot the Turkish boy a fierce glare, silently telling him to "stay back!" Sadik started at her accusing stare, having not anticipated the his best childhood friend would stand in his way, before he slowly turned around and rushed out of the room. A sigh of relief escaped Shula as she turned back to the duo next to her.

Leon was looking down at his notes as if nothing had happened. Shula frowned almost imperceptibly, not this again! Mira, however, was staring straight ahead, apparently still in shock. Shula sighed.

**Braginski Home**

The Braginski siblings sat around their table, silently eating their dinner (Yekaterina's specialty, borshch). Kat glanced back and forth between her two younger brothers, who had been ignoring each other all afternoon. "Are they fighting? Should I attempt to help them make up?" She wondered, "They're usually pretty quiet anyways, but this…"

"Toris," She said suddenly, breaking the silence, "How is Janina? She is well, _da_ _(yes)_?" Toris nodded,

"_Taip (yes),_ she's fine."

"Oh…that is good…" Kat said, disappointed at her failed attempt of start a conversation. Then again then family was never particularly chatty.

"You are taking her to Prom, _da (yes)_?" But that didn't mean she wouldn't try.

Toris just shrugged and returned to his food, obviously wanting to avoid the subject. However, Ivan either didn't notice or didn't care about his older brother's reluctance.

"Are you even planning on going at all? With her…?" Ivan said, his distaste for Janina showing quiet clearly as he spoke. Unlike with Kat's attempt Toris shot his brother a quick glare,

"Yes," He answered simply, "You are going with Emily, _teisingai (right)_?" Ivan frowned and the two exchanged glares (which Kat found odd since Toris was usually so meek when it came to Ivan. Ah well, the power of love) before once again returning to their food.

Kat frowned lightly as she studied her baby brothers. Thought not particularly well versed in the area of romance, Kat could recognize the sighs of romance related drama. Her brothers were obviously having girl trouble.

Kat knew of Ivan's crush on the loud American girl -something Toris had apparently figured out- and she knew of Ivan's reluctance to ask Emily to the dance. And Toris, who had never been particularly courageous, was obviously having trouble asking his high maintenance, loud, fearsome girlfriend (who was also completely in love with him) to Prom.

"Toris…" Kat said quietly, both boys glanced up, "About Jan…I think if you just ask her she'll say yes. Just…do what you think is right and she'll do it, no matter what you may think. Because…she really loves you, you know…" Ivan coughed in a poor attempt to disguise a laugh.

"Completely head over heels," the youngest Braginski said, a subtle reference to the time Janina had taken a tumble down a hill and ended up with her skirt flipped and her heels quite literally over her head when she had been running toward Toris.

Despite the dig from his brother, Toris smiled at his sister, clearly reassured by her words.

**Zwingli Home **

Lilli glanced up from her homework and watched for a moment as Sierra moved about the kitchen in precise, almost military like movements. Not a second was wasted as her older half-sister prepared dinner. Lilli really admired Sierra, whom she saw as the epitome of what a female should be: beautiful, smart, talented, fierce, and an amazing cook…though Sierra could be a bit less protective and self-admittedly had trouble with affection.

"How's school going?" Said older sister's voice said suddenly, startling the younger sister out of her reverie.

"It's going fine. I got an A on that project I told you about last week." Sierra paused, turned, and offered a rare, genuine smile.

"_Das ist toll (that's great)_. I'm very proud of you." Lilli smiled in return and Sierra returned to her cooking.

"How's Roderich, big sister?" Lilli asked, pulling the cuteness act so as her sister wouldn't be too upset when Roderich's name was mentioned.

"…He's fine," Sierra replied curtly, "Do we have any sugar?"

"You didn't buy any last week because the prices were 15 cents higher," Lilli replied, having returned to her homework once she didn't get the desired answer about Roderich, she didn't even glance up at her sister frugal mannerisms.

Sierra huffed. She had meant to go to the store yesterday but the incident during gym yesterday had pushed groceries to the back of her mind and now dinner was suffering for it. She sighed and turned to face her sister.

"Could you run next door and ask the Edelsteins for some of sugar, _s'il vous plait (please)_?" Lilli glanced up to meet Sierra's eyes.

"I have to finished this report _Schwester, es tut mir leid_ _(sister, I'm sorry)_." Her sister sighed and grabbed her coat off the back of the kitchen chair.

"Fine, I'll go get it. Don't open the door to anyone! Don't even look out to see who it is!"

"_Ja, ja (yes, yes). _I know, just go get the sugar." Sierra rolled her eyes as she shut and locked the door behind her. One day Lilli would appreciate her warnings. Men in general were not to be trusted, with a few rare exceptions such as Roderich (mostly) and perhaps Ludwig Beilschmidt, he seemed like a relatively decent guy; no room for nonsense with Ludwig, Sierra actually rather liked him.

As she walked toward the Edelstiens' house she quickly prayed to who ever was listening that Roderich didn't open the door. She stepped up onto the porch and rang the doorbell. "Please, who ever cares to listen, if you don't hate me…please, don't let Roderich answer the door!"

"Sierra? Do you need something?" "Yup, god hates me…" Sierra sighed before answering Roderich's question.

"We're out of sugar, could we please borrow some of yours?"

"Did you refuse to buy sugar again?" The Austrian boy asked, his lips quirking up in a smirk. Sierra frowned and harrumphed. Roderich laughed,

"I'll take that as a yes." Sierra's frown deepened and she crossed her arms.

"Are you going to give me the sugar or not?" She demanded. Roderich chuckled.

"_Natürlich (of course)_. Would you like to come in?" The Swiss girl shot a quick glance at her house as she debated the offer. "Lilli can handle herself for a few minutes." She decided.

"Sure, why not?"

Author's Note: Sorry for the long space between updates, with finals and the Black Belt test (I am now both a sophomore and Taekwondo Black Belt!) it's just been really stressful. You actually have BECCA to thank for me getting much done at all this girl is amazing people. Anyways, this is actually part 2 since it was brought to my attention that this chapter is insanely long. Several points:

a) Alice goes on a rant in a different language; this is Tamil, a sub language spoken in England. b) Sierra is shown speaking French and Germany, in Switzerland both languages are used.

c) Natalia will be mentioned she's just not a part of this version of the Braginski siblings.

d) The amount of money owed to Yao by Emily is actually a much shorter version of America's actual nation debt.

e) The Teacher Gilbert is mocking is based on an actual teacher in my school and yes, I also hate her guts

Also, a big thanks to BECCA for reading all this in its rough draft and helping me with the Spanish, she's amazing! On the subject of languages, I am sorry if I have misused any languages here. I only speak a little of a lot so I don't know the specifics. Feel free to point out any problems.

IF YOU NOTICE INCONSITANCIES PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I want all this to flow and by the time I realized this story was incredibly ambitious for a first time Multichapter writer it was too late so I'm heavily relying on your help!


	4. Struggles with Life

The Genesis Riddle

Struggles with Life…

**Start**- June 6, 2013

**End**- June 22, 2013

**Warnings**: Slight fluffy-ness, cheesy-ness and teenagers as well as slight coarse language

**Rating**: T

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

**Bonnefoy Estate, Afternoon **

Francis paced back and forth in the middle of his bedroom, a frown marring his usually immaculate features. Gilbert watched from Francis' rolling chair, his legs slung on either side of the chair's back and his chin resting atop his arms. Antonio was perched on the other side of the room, balanced on the edge of the king sized bed, his chin resting in his palm. The two shared a glance before returning their gazes to their distraught friend.

"Ya' know, Francis…" Antonio began, "This really isn't such a terrible situation…" Francis shot the Spaniard a glare.

"Let's recap shall we? I am irrevocably in love with Alice Kirkland, who with utterly hates me and who cannot find a single redeeming quality about me. She's been avoiding me ever since I almost kissed her Tuesday and I've not seen hide or hair of her even though we are _next-door_ neighbors. Pray tell _mon ami (my friend)_, how is this _not _a terrible situation?" The Frenchmen asked, his voice dripping with mirth.

"Well…" Antonio trailed off, not really knowing how the situation could get any worse.

"She could move far, far away!" Gilbert suddenly declared, "Then you'd never see her again and she'd probably fall head over heels for some guy and have a ton of kids and-"

"Gilbert!" Antonio said, cutting off the Prussians rant, "Not. helping." Gilbert chuckled, embarrassed.

"Just trying to provide an alternative."

"Well stop it!" Francis yelled. He flopped backwards onto the bed beside Antonio, "What am I supposed to do?" He moaned, throwing his hands over his face.

"Try not to be such an _arschloch (asshole)_ around her?" Gilbert suggested mildly, spinning round in the chair.

"That's the only way she'll notice me!" The Frenchman protested, "She'd completely ignore me otherwise!"

"You're kind of hard to ignore Franny," Antonio remarked, "Ow! It's the truth! No need to hit me!"

"Well then what am I supposed to do?" Francis asked desperately as he pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"Well, I don't think you should do anything!" Gilbert suddenly declared, "I'm sure once you leave this crummy town and get far, _far,_ away from Ali then you'll forget all about her! Beside, she's bound to be high maintenance and annoying. She'd be totally un-awesome." Francis groaned and dropped back onto the bed. Toni glanced at the blonde for a moment before shooting a glare at Gilbert, who only shrugged in a gesture of "What am I supposed to do?" The brunette rolled his eyes and sighed. His friends were impossible.

"You could always just tell her? She couldn't hate you anymore than she already does, right?" The Spaniard offered. Francis moaned and rolled onto his stomach, his chin resting on the back of his hands.

As much as he hated to admit it, Gil and Toni had a point, he could do very little to make his situation worse. That didn't make it any easier though. Having the love of your life hate you was never easy. Francis sighed.

"Why not ask her to Prom?" Antonio suggested suddenly. Francis jerked up and Gilbert stopped spinning the chair abruptly. Both boys stared at the Spaniard as if her had lost his mind.

"Have you gone insane!" Gilbert yelled, leaning forward as he shouted, "You'll get him killed! That girl may not be awesome but she's wicked scary! She's got a black belt in almost as many things as Yao! And remember when she completely destroyed you, Toni, during that phase when she was all tomboy-ish and punk-y! She'll-Whoa!" Gilbert pitched forward in the chair, having kept on leaning forward during his rant. Antonio frowned at the reference to his humiliating defeat at Alice's hands a few years back during a sort of navy-like contest. He'd dominated for several years before Alice had utterly crushed him and taken her place as the still reigning champion.

"Just a suggestion," He muttered sullenly, crossing his arms and pouting. A small smile flicker onto Francis' face. His friends were the best, but sometimes…

"Gilbert's right," The Frenchman said, gaining both boys attention, "It's crazy. She's soon as kill me as she'd accept." Francis sighed and buried his head in his hands.

While Francis once again began to wallow in self-depreciating thoughts, his best friends were sharing a glance over his head. This could not continue; either Francis would confess his feelings to Alice or he would die trying.

**City Library, Afternoon**

"-so _sorella (sister)_ got really mad at me and started throwing tomatoes! It got all over me and my shirt got stained! But then I was reminded to do the laundry so I guess it was a good thing! Did I tell you about when I went to _Sorella's (sister's)_ tomato patch and she did the same thing! Except she ruined my shirt and pants but she apologized by buying me new ones! _Sorella's (sister's)_ tomatoes are the best so I-"

Sakura sighed as she made a half-hearted attempt to listen to Feliciana's chatter while at the same time trying to focus on her homework for tomorrow. The Japanese girl glanced at Ludwig, who was also attempting to focus on both school and his girlfriend. Ludwig caught his friend's eye and the two sighed.

"-And it was so funny when Heracles and Sadik started yelling at each other in different languages and no one could understand what they were saying! But Shula walked over and smacked both of them on the head with her notebook! Everybody started laughing! Shula's so nice but she's really quiet. Maybe that why she and Mira get along so well? But she and Heracles are really close too! Hey Sakura, does that make you jealous? I mean you really, _really_ like Heracles and maybe-"

What ever the Italian was going to say was cut off as Sakura lunged across the table and smacked her palm across her friend's mouth. A blush spread over Sakura's face as she shot a quick glance at Ludwig, who was watching the two with an odd mixture of amusement and something akin to mocking, though Sakura had never seen Ludwig mock anyone save his older brother.

Ludwig coughed awkwardly.

"You needn't worry Sakura. I already knew about your…affections…for Heracles." Sakura shot back into her a seat, mortification written clearly on her face.

"It was rather obvious," The German continued, but quickly backpedalled when Sakura's head shot up and her eyes filled with horror, "B-But only to me! I don't believe anyone else knows you well enough to figure it out and you are deliberately hiding it from Heracles so…"

Feli laughed, as Sakura's blush deepened.

"Sakura's first crush! Don't worry though! Luddy and I won't tell! I'm a super good secret keeper and Luddy's even better! I won't say a word about you crush even though it's super cute~! Though sometimes I do get really chatty around people who don't know the secret and I kind of slip up! " Sakura sunk deeper into her chair as she wished the ground would spontaneously open and swallow her up. Ludwig's quick words saved her from further humiliation.

"Feliciana that is enough!" He said scoldingly, "There is no need to taunt Sakura about this. We are her friends and therefore we will keep her secret. You are being cruel." Tears welled up in Feli's eyes and she pulled her friend into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Sakura! I didn't mean to be mean! Please forgive me!" Sakura shifted and awkwardly returned the hug before she gently pushed the sobbing Italian away.

"It's alright, _Watashi wa anata o yurusu (I forgive you)._ Please stop crying." Feli dried her eyes and smiled. She had picked up enough Japanese over the years to be able to understand the general message of what her best friend had said. Ludwig cleared his throat and asked,

"Yes, well…what do you plan to do…about your feelings?" Sakura shook her head.

"I do not know. Nothing, most likely."

"Surely you don't intend to ignore these feelings forever?" Ludwig asked incredulously, "That will not resolve the problem."

"We speak from experience!" Feliciana added, making her boyfriend blush lightly as he nodded.

Sakura groaned and dropped her head onto the table with a thud in an uncharacteristically open display of her frustration. Ludwig and Feliciana shared a glance above their distraught friend's head.

**Kirkland Home 5 PM**

Alice sighed as she absently picked at her dinner as she listened to her brothers bicker over the table. Her brothers' arguing was not an unusual occurrence but the Brit had been through a rather trying day. Her avoidance of Francis was getting increasingly more difficult as it seemed he was actually starting to look for her. "Why? So he can make fun of me some more?" She thought bitterly. Alice had known Francis a long time and she'd never known him too be this cruel. Outright toying her feelings like that, of all the nerve!

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that Alice failed to notice that the bickering around her had ceased and all four of her brothers were staring at her.

"Alice?" Alistair asked cautiously, not particularly wanting to interrupt his sister's obviously angry train of thought, "You alright there, lassie?" His voice, polluted by a thick Scottish accent, was full of concern. Alice jerked her head toward her older brother and noticed she been repeatedly stabbing her meat rater viciously.

"Oh! Ummm yes, just fine," She replied. Alistair's eyes narrowed in disbelief but let the lie go.

"So then, how's school?" Dylan asked hesitantly, his voice much more soothing with a soft welsh lilt. Alice huffed and resumed picking at her food.

"Fine."

"Classes are okay?" Alistair asked.

"No one's-"

"-Picking on you?" Bradan and Breandan, the twins, asked; their own Irish accents often making their duel sentences all the more amusing but now they only made Alice wish she were somewhere far away.

"Fine and no," Alice answered, exasperation creeping into her voice. Being the only girl in the Kirkland Family made all her brothers fiercely protective of her, even though she was the second oldest of the five (Alistair was the oldest at twenty-six and was the other four's legal guardian).

"You sure?" Dylan asked.

"Cause we'll beat them up-" Bradan began,

"-If they are, especially that-" Breandan picked up,

"_Caffler (asshole)_ Frenchie," The two finished. Alice rolled her eyes.

"I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, thanks," She replied.

"We're just looking out for you!" Alistair protested.

"Well, it's unnecessary!"

"Hey now-" The sharp sound of a text message cut through Dylan's interjection into the quickly heating discussion.

"I should take that," Alice said, jumping up and walked toward the kitchen, not bothering to check who was texting her but content at using any excuse to get away from her domineering brothers.

As she made her way into the hall Alice glanced down at the screen and almost reconsidered reading the text. The boisterous sound of Alistair's laugh combined with the noise of Dylan and the twins vicious bickering made her change her mind.

Francis' text was short and concise,

'Meet me at That Park in three hours'. A quick glance confirmed Alice's guess that in three hours would be almost nine o'clock.

'Why should I?' She texted back quickly, a frown marring her features.

'Why not?' And try as she might she could not come up with an answer other than "Because I don't want to see you" and that would seem cowardly and Alice Kirkland was not a coward.

'Fine.'

**Movie Theater**

Emily leaned against outer wall of the theater as she glanced around, her eyes searching for her 'date' of sorts. "Where on earth is Yao?" She wondered, "He's never this late to anything…" Emily sighed as she pushed off the wall, "Well, might as well buy my ticket before they sell out." As she turned around and started toward the ticket booth she was so lost in thought she failed to notice a figure crossing her path until it was too late.

"Ow!" Emily exclaimed as she stumbled backwards, "I am so sorry!" She gasped, "I didn't see you! It's my fault, I'm so sorry!"

"At least this time you acknowledge it was your fault, _da (yes)_?" Emily glanced up in horror at the sound of the familiar Russian accent. Ivan grinned down at her, his stocky build and massive height dwarfing her much smaller stature, "We really should stop meeting this way, _da (yes)_ Emily?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" The American asked viciously, eyes narrowed as she studied Ivan cautiously.

"Do not be so hostile Emily. I am here to meet a friend," Ivan replied, raising his hands in surrender, "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to meet Yao," Emily replied staunchly. Ivan frowned.

"_Neveroyatnyy__ (impossible)_," He replied.

"And why is that?"

"Because _I_ am here to meet Yao. He asked me yesterday to accompany him to the new horror movie."

"No," Emily replied, "He invited _me_ yesterday to see the new horror movie!" The blonde declared as she stomped her foot stubbornly.

"But yesterday Yao came up to me when you were playing soccer," Ivan said cautiously.

"He came up to _me_ when _you_ were playing soccer!" Emily replied. The pieces slowly began to fall into place for them both.

"Yao!" Emily cried clenching her fist and growling menacingly, "When I get my hands on him…"

"Get in line _dorogoy_ _(sweetheart)_," Ivan muttered.

"Well this is just great…" Emily sighed, "What am I supposed to do now?"

As angry as Ivan was with his Chinese friend he was also incredibly grateful to him. Setting him up with Emily like this…now if only he could seize the opportunity…

"Well… as long as we're here we might as well go see the movie," Ivan suggested holding up his ticket.

Emily hesitated a moment before an uncharacteristically shy smile made its way onto her face.

"Sure, why not?"

**Køhler House**

Every Thursday night Svanna would come over to Mathias' house and they would sit for hours just watching movies, either making fun of them or just sitting in the occasionally broken silence, completely wrapped up in the occasional genuinely good movie. It was a tradition that had started when they were kids and neither one of the pair was willing to break it.

Mathias cackled as the movie characters talked on screen, their over dramatic performance making the supposedly serious drama into something more along the lines of a comedy. Svanna, who was sitting comfortably next to him, had a small rare smile on her face.

Usually, Svanna wasn't comfortable with people touching her but when Thursday rolled around she never objected when Mathias would settle down next to her on the couch. Which was actually the position they were in right now. The Norwegian girl was pressed snuggly against the Dane's side, though that was the only contact between them.

Mathias glanced over at his tiny compatriot as the movie switched to a much calmer scene, a romantic declaration by one of the main characters to his long time crush. Mathias ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair and, in a moment of courage that was perhaps brought on by the sickeningly sweet moment on the TV, slung his arm around Svanna's petite shoulders.

Svanna tensed. She felt a blush creep onto her face and her heart pick up speed. "No _faen (damn it)_!" She thought viciously, "No way can I let him affect me like this!" and she quickly attempted to quash the growing feelings.

"Hey…Svanna?" Came Mathias' uncharacteristically soft voice, "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmmm?" She responded easily, not glancing away from the film.

"What-" The Dane paused and cleared his throat, "What was your dream about a few days ago?" Svanna froze.

"What do you mean?" She asked sharply.

"Mira told me. She said you had quite the nightmare." "Quite the nightmare indeed," The Norwegian mused cynically before answering,

"Non of you business."

"Come on Sv! I'm you best friend!" Mathias whined, even though he already had a pretty good idea of what the dream had been about.

"None of your business," Svanna insisted, "Now just drop it." Mathias frowned.

"No I won't! I just want to help!"

"Well I don't need it!" Svanna declared as she began to stand. Mathias lunged up and enveloped her in a hug.

"I think you want it…" Svanna began to struggle against him but that only made Mathias tighten his hold around her, "I know what it's like to have your heart broken…" At this Svanna stopped struggling

"I know what it's like…to watch the person you love walk away and for the person you love to love someone else. I know how much it _hurts_." Svanna stared wide-eyed at Mathias, who had buried his head in the crook of her neck, no mean feet since she was a good head shorter than he was. The Norwegian girl could hear the pain in her friend's voice and the telltale signs of his shaking shoulders showed he was holding back tears as the thought of the person who broke his heart. The thought of Mathias loving someone caused her heart to clench but she paid it no mind as she hesitantly returned the hug. Mathias' hold around her tightened and soon they were pulled flush against each other and much to her shame Svanna soon felt tears pouring down her cheeks.

**Mikkelson Home **

Mira pressed the buttons on her controller as her character attacked Leon's own avatar fiercely and even though she was currently winning this particular match her mind was far from the game. "What on earth was he thinking?" She wondered, "Kissing me like that in the middle of class and then saying nothing about it at all! It-It's ridiculous!" Her mind had been constantly drifted back to kiss. It had been so different than the first one; so much more than a gentle peck, this kiss had been full of passion and emotions that she couldn't quite place. She could count the number of times she had seen Leon express so much emotion on one hand and she had been caught so off guard by this outpour of feelings she'd forgotten to return the kiss. Mira sighed and shook her head. Thin silver strands of her short hair fell in front of her eyes. She set down the controller and pushed them out of her eyes, allowing her character to die. A large GAME OVER sign appeared in the center of the screen and the Icelandic girl sighed once again.

Leon glanced over at his friend. Mira's thin frame was slouched over with her hands in her lap, the controller discarded in front of her and her violet eyes furrowed as if she was deep in though. To Leon she was the most beautiful girl in the world and had been even when they were children.

"Mira?" He asked hesitantly, "Is something wrong?" Suddenly, Mira whirled on him, her eyes fierce and blazing.

"You bet there's something wrong! I want an explanation Leon!" The Asian boy started back, his eyes full of shock. Mira had never yelled at him like that before.

"For what?"

"For everything! The kiss Wednesday and-and the one before that! Why did you kiss me and why then? Answer me Leon!"

Leon opened his mouth to respond but a crippling fear stopping him from answering the truth and even as his brain scrambled for an excuse his mouth closed, unable to lie to the distressed girl sitting across from him. He lowered his head in shame. Mira sighed and covered his face in her hands.

"Get out…" she whispered. Leon's head snapped up.

"W-What?" He stuttered.

"I said get out!" Mira yelled, now looking at him angrily, "Get out, get out!"

"W-Wait Mira!" Leon said, "_Qǐng (please)_, hold on! _Bùyào zhèyàng zuò__ (Don't do this)!" _

Mira paused for a moment. She understood very little of Leon's native tongue but she knew enough to understand he was begging her not to make him leave.

Leon knew he was letting his emotions play freely on his usually expressionless face but that didn't matter right now. "I can't lose her!" He thought desperately, "No, not her. I can't lose her!"

Mira stood and towered of the Asian boy, who scrambled backwards a few inches before he stood and back away from the slowly advancing Icelandic girl.

"_Jùjué (no)! Ekki (no)! _No! Get out!" She yelled forcing Leon towards the door until his back was pressed against the thick wood that separated him from outside, "Leave me alone!" She reached past her friend and opened the door. Before Leon could speak a word in his defense Mira shoved him out the door and slammed it in his face.

Leon pressed his hand on the door before drawing it back and being to pound relentlessly.

"Mira, _Qǐng (please), _let me in!" This continued for sometime, while Mira staunching ignored his pleas.

"Mira…I-I…I'm sorry," Leon said finally as sighed and turned away, shooting a quick glance at the still closed door before running down the walkway and away from the house.

Mira closed her eyes and the tears she had been withholding through Leon's pleas finally began to fall as she slid down to the floor. A thunderclap sounded loudly and the pitter-patter of rain soon followed.

Leon slowed to a stop as the downpour began. He raised his eyes to sky and clenched them tight as the rain washed over his face.

**To be continued**

Author's Note: All chapters shall hence for be split into 2 parts because otherwise the average chapter would be a minimum of at least 25 five pages. Some parts of this also came out pretty poetic, mostly because I was watching Romeo x Juliet (so cute!) in English dub while writing this and pretty much every other line it that anime is verse and it it's hard not too get sucked into. You can really tell where I was listening and where I wasn't so…yeah…sorry, I guess…


End file.
